50 Centavos Mercosur

Issued to mark Argentina's participation in Mercosur, the South American trade bloc formally established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991, this commemorative circulating coin arrived during a period of relative economic stability that would collapse spectacularly three years later in the 2001–2002 crisis. Few coins in the series would see such a sharp contrast between the optimism of their minting and the chaos of their circulation years.